Ioannis V. Yannas, PhD, working with Harvard surgeon John F. Burke, MD, discovered the first method for regenerating organs in adult mammals (1975-78). This discovery was made in Yannas’ laboratory at MIT. It was based on synthesis of a highly porous collagen scaffold structured as an analog of the extracellular matrix (dermis regeneration template, DRT). The scaffold is characterized by critical levels of degradation half-life, average pore size and surface ligands for cell integrins.

This work led to the first-ever regeneration of a non-regenerative tissue (dermis) in an adult mammal (guinea pig, 1975-78).  A commercial version of DRT became an FDA-approved medical device (Integra^TM), currently used widely to treat patients who have lost skin due to trauma, plastic surgery and patients with chronic skin wounds or other diseases that involve loss of normal skin. 

Studies of dermis regeneration have been extended by Yannas and doctoral students Lila Chamberlain and Eric Soller to regenerate the transected rat sciatic nerve over unprecedented distances (1985-2010). This research led to a commercial medical device for treating peripheral nerves (Neuragen^TM). Another extension of this research by Yannas, working with ophthalmic surgeon Peter Rubin, MD, Harvard Medical School, led to regeneration of the rabbit conjunctiva following complete excision of the conjunctival stroma (2001). Yet another extension of this research based on DRT led to regeneration of the crushed spinal cord in mice, in work led by Dr. Dimitrios Tzeranis in Heraklion.

For his discovery of the first method for inducing organ regeneration Yannas was elected member of the National Academy of Medicine of the USA (1987) and the National Academy of Engineering of the USA (2017). He was also elected Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biomedical Engineering. In 2015 Yannas was inducted in the National Inventors Hall of Fame of the USA, having being cited for the first patent on organ regeneration. Yannas received degrees from Harvard College (BA, chemistry, 1957), MIT (MS, chemical engineering, 1959) and Princeton University (MS, 1965; PhD, 1966, physical chemistry). He has been on the MIT faculty since 1966 and is currently Professor of Polymer Science and Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, MIT.